|Publication number||US7907116 B2|
|Application number||US 11/797,389|
|Publication date||Mar 15, 2011|
|Filing date||May 3, 2007|
|Priority date||May 3, 2007|
|Also published as||CN101329838A, CN101329838B, US20080273007|
|Publication number||11797389, 797389, US 7907116 B2, US 7907116B2, US-B2-7907116, US7907116 B2, US7907116B2|
|Inventors||Wai Hon Ng, Man Chun Wong, Chi Wai Ng, Siu Kei Wong, Jimmy Chiu|
|Original Assignee||Solomon Systech Limited|
|Export Citation||BiBTeX, EndNote, RefMan|
|Patent Citations (27), Non-Patent Citations (3), Classifications (8), Legal Events (2)|
|External Links: USPTO, USPTO Assignment, Espacenet|
The present invention generally relates to a drive system for a flat panel display. More particularly, the present invention relates to a dual output voltage system with charge recycling in Electrophoretic Panel Display (EPD) applications.
Panel displays are commonly used in electronic products. It is known to provide panel displays based on electrophoretic effects. Electrophoretic effects comprise charged particles dispersed in a fluid or liquid medium moving under the influence of an electric field. As an example of the application of the electrophoretic effects, displays may use charged pigment particles dispersed and contained in a dye solution and arranged between a pair of electrodes. The dye solution in which charged pigment particles are dispersed is known as “electrophoretic ink” or “electronic ink.” A display using electrophoretic ink is known as an electrophoretic display (“EPD”). Under the influence of an electric field, the charged pigment particles are attracted to one of two display electrodes. In response, the desired images are displayed.
In recent years, EPD technology was introduced for use in flat panel display.
One feature of EPD technology is that the pixels are bi-stable. That is, the pixels can be maintained in either of two states without a constant supply of power. Another feature of EPD technology is that particles in an EPD panel move in different directions according to control voltages, in order to display different colors. As a result, EPD panels have a response time which is slower than those of other types of flat panel display.
One application of EPD technology, the electronic paper display device, is being developed as a next generation display device to replace liquid crystal display devices, plasma display panels, and organic electro-luminescent display panels. In particular, electronic paper display panels using “electronic ink” are expected to be a replacement, in certain applications, for existing print media such as books, newspapers, magazines, or the like.
An electronic ink display is well suited for use in a flexible display device because the device can be created on a flexible substrate. For example, by creating an electronic ink display device in a panel using a substrate of a flexible material, the electronic ink display device may have the advantages of flexibility, simplicity, and reliability. The electronic ink display device may also provide the means to construct paper-thin reflective displays without use of a backlight, resulting in very low power consumption.
However, the drive system of EPD panels requires high voltage levels. These high voltages can be provided by traditional DC-DC methods. However, low power consumption is an important objective in applications including EPD technologies. As a result, it is desirable to reduce power consumption in these applications.
A second DC-DC method is disclosed by Kurt Muhlemann, in an article entitled “A 30-V Row/Column Driver for Flat-Panel Liquid Crystal Displays.” Muhlemann presents the system architecture used in a STN (twisted-nematic) display driver, which can be slightly modified for use in an electrophoretic panel display (EPD). For example,
The function of analog buffer 301 is to provide a large driving capability for the V1 voltage. Also shown in
However, the voltage generation method disclosed above presents several disadvantages. For example, analog buffer 301 consumes static current. Thus, analog buffer 301 and resistor ladder 303 exhibit current consumption which cannot be reduced even when the driving waveform (as shown in
Yet another disadvantage of the above-described voltage generation method is that the electrical charges in the panel's pixel may not be recycled or reused. As mention above, each of the pixels can be represented by a capacitor (CPIXEL) 305.
The structure of
Q=(V0−V1)*C Pixel (Eq. 1)
As shown in
This shortcoming has been addressed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,556,177 to Katayama et al. by a charge recycling system 600 for electroluminescent display panel (EL) applications (
As shown in
However, since capacitor 601 disclosed by Katayama is charged to V1 during phase one and employed to generate a voltage level equal to twice the value of V1 (2*V1) at phase two, sources of voltages V1 and 2*V1 do not exist at the same time.
The output voltages of the DC-DC converter in Katayama are not continuous in time. Using the typical drive waveform for EPD pixels given in
As such, there is a need for a power efficient charge recycling DC-DC converter system that provides continuous time output voltages.
In one exemplary embodiment, there is provided a drive system for a flat panel display having segment and common lines. The system may include a first charge pump, including an input terminal for receiving electric charge at an input voltage level and a circuit for generating a first pumped voltage level. The system may also include a first storage capacitor coupled to the first charge pump for storing electric charge at the first pumped voltage level. The system may include a second charge pump, including an input terminal coupled to the first storage capacitor for receiving electric charge at the first pumped voltage level; a pump output terminal; and a circuit for generating a second pumped voltage level at the pump output terminal. The system may further include a second storage capacitor coupled to the pump output terminal for storing electric charge at the second pumped voltage level. The system may also include a controller coupled to the first and second storage capacitors, including segment and common output terminals respectively coupled to segment and common lines of an associated flat panel display; a plurality of switching devices coupled to the first and second storage capacitors; and a control circuit operating the switching devices to selectively connect the segment output terminal to the first and second storage capacitors so as to supply charge to the segment output terminal during a first phase and to return charge from the segment output terminal to the second storage capacitor during a second phase.
It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are exemplary and explanatory only and are not restrictive of the invention, as described. Further features and/or variations may be provided in addition to those set forth herein. For example, the present invention may be directed to various combinations and subcombinations of the disclosed features and/or combinations and subcombinations of several further features disclosed below in the detailed description.
The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification, show certain aspects of the present invention and, together with the description, help explain some of the principles associated with the invention. In the drawings,
Reference will now be made in detail to the invention, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings. The implementations set forth in the following description do not represent all implementations consistent with the claimed invention. Instead, they are merely some examples consistent with certain aspects related to the invention. Wherever possible, the same reference numbers will be used throughout the drawings to refer to the same or like parts.
In general, the drive capacity of charge pump 903 is greater than that of an analog buffer. Eliminating the use of a traditional analog buffer may also result in lower power consumption and a smaller silicon area. The design of system 900 may also eliminate driving capability limitations posed by analog buffers.
In contrast to the analog buffers employed by prior art systems, in system 900, the response time for driving an electrophoretic panel display (EPD) with the output of charge pump 903 only depends on the storage capacitance and the segment resistance. It should be noted that the proposed design of system 900 may provide either dual regulated voltages or one regulated output voltage, depending on the required accuracy of the output voltages.
In phase one, clock driver PH1 switches are operated by Phase Control Logic such that a flying capacitor, Cflying, is pre-charged to Vin level with a VN terminal connected to Vss and a VP terminal connected to Vin.
In phase two, PH1 switches are opened while PH2 switches are closed. Terminal VN is connected to Vin level and terminal VP is pumped to a 2× VIN voltage level by a capacitor coupling effect. The charge stored in Cflying will perform the charge redistribution, with Cstorage providing charge at a 2× VIN voltage level to Vout.
The regulated mode of the 2× charge pumps is now described. In 2× charge pump 1000, resistors R1 and R2 function as a voltage divider. This voltage divider defines the regulated output value. A feedback voltage VFB is compared with a pre-defined reference voltage VREF by the voltage comparator. If VFB is larger than VREF, the voltage comparator will output a control signal to the phase control logic, directed to stop the pump action by stopping the clock driving the switches, e.g., switches PH1, PH2.
As a result, in system 900, voltages V0, V1, and Vss exist at the same time. Also, output voltages are continuously maintained by means of the capacitors (CS1, CS2). The pixel's waveform does not depend on the switching frequency and timing of the charge pump or power system. Moreover, a new pixel's waveform does not need to wait for the previous pixel's waveform to be completed first.
Although system 900 shows architecture with two similar charge pump stages, each charge pump stage outputting a voltage level 2× of input voltage level, the architecture of system 900 may be extended to allow cascading of stages which may not be similar in circuit configurations and which may have different times of multiplication of input voltages (e.g., 3×, 4×, etc.). The architecture of system 900 can also extend, for example, to a charge pump system consisting of multiple branches of cascaded stages, with downstream stages taking electronic charges from the outputs of upstream stages of multiple branches, in order to produce outputs at voltage levels required in the application, wherein optimization of power efficiency considerations on the system level will indicate the optimal output to be used for the input of each stage.
Various configurations are possible. For example, all components of system 900 may be packaged as an integrated circuit.
System level consideration for power efficiency should take the driving scheme and the panel loading into account. Generally, the overall charge pump system would consist of a minimum number of stages that can still meet the number of drive levels required. The system should balance charging and discharging of panel loading in order to minimize instantaneous power demand from power supplies.
The foregoing description is intended to illustrate but not to limit the scope of the invention, which is defined by the scope of the appended claims. Other embodiments are within the scope of the following claims.
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|1||Amundson, "Electrophoretic Imaging Films for Electronic Paper Displays", pp. 369-391, Wiley 2005.|
|2||Crawford, "Flexible Flat Panel Display Technology", pp. 1-9, Wiley, 2005.|
|3||Muhlemann, "A 30-V Row / Column Driver for Flat-Panel Liquid Crystal Displays", IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits, vol. 23, No. 2, pp. 442-449, Apr. 1988.|
|Cooperative Classification||G09G2330/028, G09G3/344, G02F1/167, G09G3/16|
|European Classification||G02F1/167, G09G3/16|
|May 3, 2007||AS||Assignment|
Owner name: SOLOMON SYSTECH LIMITED, HONG KONG
Free format text: ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST;ASSIGNORS:NG, WAI HON;WONG, MAN CHUN;NG, CHI WAI;AND OTHERS;REEL/FRAME:019324/0624
Effective date: 20070427
|Aug 25, 2014||FPAY||Fee payment|
Year of fee payment: 4